


Died a Hero

by Sroloc_Elbisivni



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Drinking, Gen, Grief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 18:11:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6125533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sroloc_Elbisivni/pseuds/Sroloc_Elbisivni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the RvB Tumblr angst war. Dr. Emily Grey lost everyone in the war that wasn't even real. Now she has time to face that fact, right on the heels of Doyle's passing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Died a Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RenaRoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenaRoo/gifts).



The Federal Army of Chorus hadn’t held actual funerals in years. Emily usually wouldn’t have actually had the time to go if they had been held, either, since for every person who died, there were at least three more she needed to keep from getting there.

But any casualties from Armonia were already beyond helping, no one knew what to do next, and for the first time in years, there was absolutely nothing Emily Grey, PhD, PhD, MD, could do.

Of course, that didn’t keep her from co-opting the first bottle of non-rubbing alcohol she found by claiming it was for disinfectant and then locking herself in a supply closet to drink it.

It was terrible moonshine from someone’s secret still, but at least it wouldn’t make her go blind.

After one swig, she tacked a “probably” onto the end of that.

But hey, if she went blind, at least it would be an awesome opportunity to experiment. Doyle could—

Right. No. Doyle couldn’t.

The HUD display on her helmet chimed from its place on the floor.

“No. Shush. Shut up. Stupid piece of steel and silicon.”

But she pulled it on anyways.

 _General Donald Doyle’s obituary has been posted to the Chorus intranet_.

Oh. That was quick.

Blah blah blah, born in Armonia…blah blah blah, fifteenth general of the Federal Army of Chorus…blah bla—

Died a hero.

The bottle smashed against the opposite wall, and the helmet followed right after it.

Died a hero, died a _fucking hero,_ just like Edie and Alvin and, and Aunt Cara, and every other single person who was part of this sham of a war.

It wasn’t until her mouth closed that Emily realized she’d been shouting, and her helmet, attempting to be helpful, pulled up all of the other obituaries on the inside display.

They all said the same thing, if you got close enough to now. Was born. Fought. Died a hero killing rebels.

Except Doyle was probably the first person on Chorus since the war started to die an actual hero.

Aunt Cara, Alvin, Edie, Mom, Dad, her roommate from college, everyone who lived in her hometown, the guy who owned the curry place in Armonia where she wrote her first doctoral thesis, the kid who wanted to train to become a medic, the squad who had been assigned to Outpost 37, every soldier who had ever passed through her sickbay only to go right back out again and not come back—

They weren’t heroes. They never had been.

They were just dead.

Someone knocked on the door. “Uh, Doc?”

Jensen. The Lieutenant.

Just a kid. Not really a hero—but definitely not dead.

Not yet.

Emily scrubbed at her eyes and pulled her helmet back on. She couldn’t let them see her cry.

“Happy place. Happy place. Happy place,” she muttered as she stood up and opened the door. “Hi, Jensen!”

The Lieutenant took a step back. “I, uh, was supposed—are you okay?”

“Top-notch! One hundred percent delightful! In medically sound condition! What were you supposed to do?”

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt by renaroo on Tumblr: Angst prompt: Doctor Grey has lost everyone in the war that wasn't even real, now she has the time to face that fact right on the heels of Doyle's passing.
> 
> This was fun. For the curious, one PhD is in opera and one PhD is in the history of Chorus. Dr. Grey took courses to become a psychiatrist in the course of her MD. 
> 
> Come find me on [Tumblr!](sroloc--elbisivni.tumblr.com) Do it before March 4th and you can send me a prompt for the angst war.


End file.
